Roger watched the spinning CD slowly stop as the music
had stopped playing. He wondered at what he had just
heard as the lyrics of a new song from Grand Funk
Railroad kept turning over and over in his mind. It
had been many years since he had thought about that
band and all the old feeling were starting to surface.
Maybe he should also start recording his songs, but his
recordings were linked with terrible deeds that the
police had never solved.

"The police are idiots!" he thought as he
absentmindedly picked up his Les Paul and started
picking out the guitar solo from one of GFR's new songs
called "Roadkill's Coming." He did not notice the
slight changes in his appearance as he played the song,
slowly at first. Beads of sweat began appearing on his
forehead has he struggled with the intricate fingerings
of the solo. "Damn, that Farner!" he grumbled as he
stopped playing and disgustedly tossed the guitar onto
a seedy sofa. Only the wise would have noticed the
strange symbols and markings on the body of that Les
Paul. Markings that could mean only one thing, this
man was not an ordinary musician. He was into
something darker, much darker. Roger starred, looking
out the window. In the faint reflection he seemed to
notice that his hair was slightly long. He reminded
himself to get a haircut. He went back and picked up
the guitar. Man, it felt good to hold it. He started
to get the feeling that he never wanted to put it down,
but dismissed that from his mind with a grunt. He
continued to play the new Funk tune.

Roger awoke in the middle of the night with the Les
Paul wrapped in his arms. But wait, it's not a Les
Paul anymore, it looks like ... like ... oh good
god! ... a Messenger. Roger screams in agony as he
throws the guitar against the wall of his bedroom. The
Messenger bounces off the wall and falls undamaged onto
the floor. A hollow laugh drifts through the air as
Roger is drawn to the cursed axe. He slings the guitar
across his back, howling with the pain, as if the
Messenger was a burning fire. However, as quickly as
the fire starts, it becomes a cooling, soothing
talisman. Roger now knows what he must do. He passes
down the hallway toward the front door. Passing the
vanity mirror, he doesn't notice that his hair is now
half way down his back.

At the travel agency, Roger completes his transaction
and pays cash for his plane ticket to Indianapolis for
April 17th. Under his arm is a Newsweek article
describing the "Grand Funk Reserection." In that
article it describes Grand Funk's comeback and mentions
a concert swing through the midwest. Roger quietly
looks at the travel agent and admires her comely
features, blond hair, hourglass figure and the deepest
blue eyes he has ever seen. It's a pity that she will
never live to tell anyone that "Mark Farner" has bought
a ticket to Indiana from L.A. Roger takes a cab back
to his house in West Hollywood, tips the driver who
comments that he has never met a "Rock Star" before.
Roger laughs and gives the driver another 20 dollar
bill ... too bad the driver didn't notice the satchel
sitting on the floor of the cab as he drove away.

Roger returns to his study and picks up the Les Paul.
He crys in agony as the burning pain once again pours
through his body. He looks down at the guitar and
notices that he is playing the Messenger. He doesn't
seem to mind that a minute ago it was a Les Paul
sitting in the corner. He smashes the button on the
amp and then cranks up the CD player holding the Bosnia
CD. While the sound system blares out the opening
strains of 2001 Roger opens a drawer of his desk and
retrieves an arm band, sterling silver with strange
runes upon it. He straps it to his arm as the
announcer shouts "Here's the group you've been waiting
to see, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD!" With that, Roger jumps
in front of a microphone and begins playing and singing
the entire Bosnia set with absolute precision. The
full wide mirror on the opposite wall tells the whole
tale as "Mark" goes through the entire set, sweat
beading up on his brow, the long locks of hair
streaking with moisture.

Two hours later, Roger collapses with fatigue. He
removes the Messenger guitar, with a blood curdling
scream at the pain, and places it in the corner; there
the Les Paul now sits. Roger drags to his bedroom and
falls onto the bed, not bothering to shower after his
workout. He falls asleep and dreams the dreams of the
damned.

The next morning, Roger wakes up and peels the sweat
soaked clothes from the night before and heads to the
bathroom. He turns the shower on and unclips the arm
band and puts it on the vanity top. He examines his
arm in the mirror and notices that he has a permanent
mark on his arm where the band was. He studies his
face in the looking glass and does a double take. No
wonder those people thought he was Mark Farner, he
looks like Mark Farner! Upon closer examination he
realizes that his reflection is not as strong as it
should be ... almost like he is becoming transparent
... nnaaa ... couldn't be. He tests the shower
temperature and gets into the shower.

After dressing, Roger goes and picks up the newspaper.
The headline is particularly interesting ... "Cab
Driver Killed in Gangland Style." The accompaning
photo is quite grissly, "yuck!" he thinks as he flips
to the local news section. Under the "Crime Log" he
sees a small story about a travel agent, Rita Cromer,
who was apparantly killed in an alley and then hung
from a fire escape by a guitar string. "Lovely," he
quips. In neither story do the police have any leads
and are asking the public to come forward. Roger picks
up the phone ... then laughs loudly as he puts it down
again singing, "Get out in the street boy, and cut
yourself some meat, boy. Get out on your own side of
the road, and lighten my loooooad!"

While eating his breakfast, he turns on the "boob tube."
He turns the channel to VH1, just in time for an
8-track flashback show. Suzanne Sommers is talking
mindlessly about top selling bands in the 1970's and
then introduces Grand Funk Railroad doing "Locomotion."
Roger watches intently as the opening guitar riff
starts coming from Farners' guitar. "Imposter!!"
shouts Roger as he grabs a baseball bat from the corner
of the room and bashes the TV's picture tube!! "I'll
show you, I'll show yyyyyooooouuuuuu!!!!!"

Roger is packing for his trip to Indianapolis, he
stands in front of the bathroom mirror, but the mirror
records no such activity. Roger doesn't notice
anymore. In fact, he doesn't think of himself as
Roger, he is Mark. AND, he is out to get the guy who
is impersonating him. However, deep in the recesses of
his confused brain a voice trys to reason with him. He
beats the voice back with a shout of denial and resumes
packing. He picks up the Messenger from the corner, it
no longer ever looks like a Les Paul anymore, and puts
it carefully into its case. He has one other suitcase
and a backpack. He hears the honk from a cabby out
front and he goes out the door, locking it with a quiet
turn of the key.

The flight to Indianapolis is about 4 hours long with a
stopover in St.Louis. A few people stop him for
autographs which he is only too happy to comply with.
Roger revels in his role as Rock Star/Legend. A guy
could really get used to this! The plane lands at the
Indianapolis International Airport, Roger remembers
when it was called "Wier Cook Airport." Outside the
airport he hire a Limo to take to the Marriot Hotel,
downtown. The Limo driver take I-465 to I-70 to the
inner loop. Traveling through monument circle Roger
notices the usual decay in a big city like Indy. The
driver drops him off at the hotel after helping to
carry his bags inside, but Roger carries the Messenger
himself.

The hours go by slowly in his hotel room. He reviews
his plan over and over again. He watches a news report
that tells of the concert that night by Grand Funk and
they interview Mel. "Hi Mel," says Roger, "I'll see
you later this evening, be ready to Rock!" The concert
is at 8:00 P.M. and it is 5:15 right now, time to go.

Don and Mel have already left for the van that will
take them to the concert. Mark is still in his room
performing some exercises designed to help him with his
cronically sore neck. He always has to get the kinks
out before a show, he doesn't want to dissappoint the
fans. He is interrupted by a knock on the door and a
shout of "Room Service!" "I didn't order any room
service." Mark replies. "You're going to want to see
this, Mr. Farner," replies the hidden voice. His
curiosity peaked, Mark opens the door. In an instant
of total recognition, Mark finds himself face to face
with ... himself. With a thud, Mark goes to
dreamland.

Roger drags Mark over to the bed and quickly changess
clothes with him. Then he gags and binds Mark to the
bed. He leaves the unconcious Mark laying there and
hangs the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and locks
it behind him. He hurries to the van, now waiting out
front. "Man, I thought you'd never get here!"
admonishes Don. "Sorry guys, my neck was still a
little stiff, let's go," grins Roger.

It is almost to painfull to go on, Chapter 5 to
follow.Jim's a good mans brother

On the way to the show, Don reviews the set list with
Mel and Mark (Roger) ... "Okay, we'll open with 'Are
You Ready,' and then move into 'Rock and Roll Soul'
... Rogers' mind begins to drift as he is well aware
of the set list, at least he thinks he is aware until
Mel pipes up and says, "Mark, did you get a chance to
run through the new encore number?"

"Huh?!" retorts Roger, "What are you guys trying to
pull on me? Cut the comedy!"

"Just making sure you're listening, Mark," relays Mel.

"Stop jacking me off, Mel," growls Roger.

Don smiles to himself, he hasn't heard Mark talk like
that in a long time. The van pulls to a stop at the
concert hall, Market Square Arena. The boys pile out
and meet a group from the Robbie Roberts team. They
are ushered inside after signing a few autographs for
some fans waiting by the back entrance. "So far, so
good," thinks Roger as he has fooled everyone so far.

In the dressing room, Mark and Don are sitting in front
of a makeup mirror as an assistant puts the final
touches on their stage makeup. Dons eyes go wide as he
doesn't see Mark in the reflection. "Hey Mark, you
going vampire on us or something?!" ... "Get real,
Don," snarls Roger, "Just get ready for the show."
Roger walks away from the mirror, that was a close one.

Meanwhile, Mark is slowly regaining consciousness. His
confusion is replaced by two things. One, a rather
large pain on the left side of his head and anger at
being tied to the bed. It takes a couple of minutes,
but he is able to spit the gag out of his mouth. He
starts shouting for HELP!! He continues to shout for
about 3 minutes until he hears a loud knock on the
door. "Mr. Farner, are you in there? Open the door."

"I can't. I'm tied up to the bed in here!" explains
Mark, loudly.

He hears and feels the security guard kicking at the
door, but it won't budge. "Hang on Mr. Farner, I'll
get the pass key!" says the guard, finally.

"Hurry it up, the ropes are cutting into my arms!"

"Back in a flash, Sir, don't move!" cautions the guard.

"Don't move?, what an asshole" thinks Mark with a
painful laugh.

A few minutes later, Mark hears the jingle of keys as
the manager has brought up the pass key. The door
opens as 4 big security men and a detective from the
Indy police department race into the room. Mark is
immediately untied and they begin questioning him about
who did it. "No time to lose, guys. We have to get to
Market Square Arena, NOW. The others might be in
danger!" Everyone runs to the elevator and then jump
in a police van and race to the arena, siren blaring.

At Market Square, Grand Funk is now into "Footstompin'
Music." Don can't believe how good Mark sounds and he
seems to have his old agility back. Mark has been
doing all the back bending moves he did when he was 20!

Roger is truly in his element. The fans are going
crazy and he now undersatands that HE is the true
Farner and the other guy was just holding him back.
After the show he will deal with the imposter
permenantly.

By now the opening lines of "Paranoid" are
reverberating through the arena bringing the crowd to
it's feet in an orgasmic display of unbridled Rock
Power!! It's precisely at this time that Mark arrives
at backstage. He sees Robbie Roberts standing there
watching the band from the wings. Marks walks up to
him and asks, "How's it going, Bobby?" Roberts turns
to Mark and begins to answer and then does the most
beautiful double take you have ever seen. "Pardon my
french, Mark, But, what the FUCK is going on here?"

"You're excused Bobby, but that guy out there is an
imposter. Has anything unusual happened?"

The sixth (and final chapter, at last) to follow
...Jim's a good mans brother

"No Mark, nothing strange has happened yet. Who is
that guy?" asks Robbie with a grin.

"I don't know, but I'm about to find out. Keep the
cops off the stage, this is my problem," Mark replys
grimly.

Mark takes a look at Mel and Don. They don't notice
him standing in the wings, they are concentrating on
"Aimless Lady" and are watching Mark (Roger) pound
through the solo. The crowd is going crazy which really
makes Mark's blood boil. "This guy is stepping on my
turf!" he thinks. It is time to put a stop to it.

Mark walk out onto the stage about 7 feet. Nothing
happens at first, then Mel looks over and his chin hits
the floor and he stops playing. Don looks at Mel with
a question mark painted on his face, then looks toward
what Mel is looking at, he does a double take and stops
playing as well. Roger just keeps on going through the
solo and doesn't notice that everyone else has stopped
playing. Howard Eddy (remember him?) gets Roger
attention and points over to Mark.

In a moment of abject anguish Roger stops playing. Now
Mark and Roger are standing 4 feet apart. They stare
at each other as a hush comes over the crowd. Some of
the audience begins to rush out of the exits as others
start to come toward the stage. Roger and Mark stand
perfectly still as Mel, Don and Howard leave their
instruments and approach the two.

Before anything is said, Roger grabs his guitar and
swinging it like an axe, trys to kill Mark. It flys
from his hands as Roger screams in agony! The Messenger
misses Mark and hits the stage floor breaking into two
pieces. Mark kicks the now transformed Les Paul to the
side and takes a flying tackle at Roger. Roger fights
like a man possessed as he struggles with the
determined Mark. Roger in a moment of unholy power
throws Mark to the side and dives off the stage into
the crowd! Mark is not about to let him go that easy
as he runs to the end of the stage and swan dives on
top of Roger. The crowd of people back away as the two
combantants wail away at each other. While all this
is going on Mel and Don are acting like they are
watching the USA Tuesday Night Fights and are calling
the action! Howard, on the other hand, justs throws up
his hands and walks off the stage.

At this very moment, two members from the audience step
forward. They are wearing white T-shirts that say,
"Roadkill" on them. "Jeff, what do you think we should
do?" asks Phil. "I'm not sure, but this looks like
one of my frat parties from school!" replys Jeff.

With that Jeff Cochran jumps on top of Roger and starts
restraining him. Mark gets up off the floor and begins
pounding Roger in the stomach with repeated lefts and
rights. Roger collapses in agony and begins crying
uncontrollably. By this time the police have shown up
and start putting hand cuffs on Roger. Marks looks
over at the two Roadkill guys and says "Thanks dudes!
I'll never forget Roadkill again. Do you two guys need
jobs?" "No, I'm a computer geek!" says Phil correctely.
"Not me, I'm a gourmet chef!" intones Jeff. "Oh well,
if you need anything, just give a shout," says Mark as
he returns to the stage.

At this time Don walks up to Mark and says, "You're the
real Mark, aren't you?"

"I guess you'll just have to figure that out for
yourself, MORON!" Replies Mark.